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Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 is a hymn to light and space. The tree-lined entrance and soaring façade establish it as a state-of-the-art structure.
 
However, the key for British Airways will be how the £4.3 billion building works when it opens for the airline’s exclusive use from the end of next month.

As the biggest operator at Heathrow, BA has suffered more than other airlines from queues, delays and baggage problems.

First off, BA insists passengers will be through one of the 100 or more check-in desks in Terminal 5 within five minutes. “There should be minimal queueing,” says a spokesman.

There will be fewer staff on desks and more on the floor to meet passengers and offer help. But BA expects 80% of passengers to check in at a self-service kiosk or online by April. More than 50% were doing so by the end of last year.

The airline is confident enough to reintroduce a fast bag-drop service, dropped at Heathrow because of delays. “We had stopped calling it fast – it was just a bag drop,” BA admits.

Passengers will have their tickets scanned, drop their bag and walk past the check-in desks into security, with no doubling back to find departures. “The idea is to keep passengers flowing,” says the spokesman.

Counters immediately behind check-in will deal with any problems, changes or payments and handle those with paper tickets – hopefully eliminating hold-ups at check-in.

Passengers will find only refreshment outlets before they go through check-in.

“Heathrow operator BAA has given up retail space for security,” says BA. The airline insists there will be enough security channels to make lengthy queues a thing of the past. High-tech scanning machines on all the security channels, which produce multiple images of a bag’s contents, should speed up searches.

Once at the gate, BA believes the boarding process will also be quicker. “We have pushed back things currently done at the gate, such as seat changes,” says a spokesman.

“There will be no last-minute changes or entry of passenger details at the gate. We are trying to make it a boarding gate rather than an ‘everything last-minute gate’, to get passengers on the aircraft quicker.”

He adds: “We are confident Terminal 5 will make going through Heathrow more pleasant. Passengers have a negative perception and it will take time to win back trust. We have to show it has changed. But we believe people will want to fly BA in order to go through the terminal.”

BA services from Terminal 5

• All domestic flights move to T5 from March 27.
• Almost all European flights move from March 27.
• Most intercontinental flights move on April 30.
• Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Tripoli, Johannesburg, Algiers, Tokyo, Hong Kong move on March 30.
• Houston and Dallas flights move to T4 on March 30, then T5 on April 30.
• Algiers flights move from Gatwick to T5 on March 30.

Terminal 5 fact file

• Is five times the size of Terminal 4.
• Has 9,000 public seats.
• Cost £4.3 billion, of which BA contributed £330 million.
• Has 112 shops and restaurants.
• Will be capable of handling 30 million passengers a year, up to 90,000 a day.
• Will offer six lounges, including an arrivals lounge, with 96 showers.

Heathrow Terminal 5 pictures

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